Doesn’t that sound like a fusion jazz quartet starring some crazy bass player who has dreadlocks? His bass is all paint-erroded from all of the years he spent playing bass in smoky little jazz clubs in groups with names like Steven Tyler PJs and Neil McKarren’s Big Fat Bootie. But in the case of the John Allen Lamp Project, it’s nothing but smooth sailing for our imaginary bass player friend I just invented because I should get out more.

Check this out:

This is an animation of John Allen’s lamp — plywood, sturdy, taking the idea of using construction materials as the fore element to a new level. That’s how I see it. You can also go to John’sInstructables and make your own. John Allen is just that awesome, as the best work should be. Free for all to enjoy. Thanks, John, this rocks!

Back in my undergrad days, I used to front a band… Oh, it was glorious, we had a blast, and the guys are all pro musicians now. Another crazy picture of me with hair:

We had so much fun!!! I used to wear those crazy shirts at gigs at the bars in town that were all Japanese and silky and dragony and such, and of COURSE the silver mirror shirt! I have been looking all over the place today looking for a picture of that great shirt, but I can’t find one anywhere! Oh it was shiny, I bet the house lighting guys hated me… I was surfing some design blogs and found this lovely light catcher, reminded me of the old days!

(ok, now imagine a guy singing blues and wearing a shirt made out of the same material as her hoodie…)

I was reaing Instructables this weekend, and I came across a project that someone had done that used audio speakers like galvanometers (galvos) to actually move a laser beam around! The project has full X-Y control of the laser beam, and with a wee little Arduino microcontroller, you have yourself a fully programmable laser show for about 50 bucks. Pretty awesome.

Have you never seen a laser device that spells words and makes pictures and such? Inside of those devices are several little things called galvanometers – in the laser world, we call them galvos, or a galvo, singular. These things are basically moving coil electric current detectors, pure and simple. When a voltage is applied, they react. When a voltage is applied and changed several times a second, you see all kinds of little erratic movements in the galvo. With laser shows and devices that utilize galvos to spell words and draw pictures with lasers, what is happening is that the voltage is being changed rapidly and constantly in order to make the laser appear to be spelling out these words and pictures.

Instructables user UncleBone posted one of the coolest Instructables I’ve read on that site – making an LED ceiling fan display! He remade the blades, added some homemade circuit boards, and created the image mapping himself. Good sir, I commend you!

Check out a very quick video of his final project – the frame rate’s off and makes the product look a bit choppy, but you get the idea. Also, check out the Instructable here!

Holy crap. Instructables user mrigsby posted instructions on how to build a battery-free LED flashlight that charges in about three minutes and lasts for 24 hours. Apparently it’s about 2-3 hours of bright light, and then it drops to “night light” levels. Whatever, I guess – three minutes to charge!

Instructables user robomaniac wrote a project called the Desktop Energy Seed Lamp. It’s a joule thief, but one that has multiple color LEDs and a switch that controls each one. The instructable is pretty well explained – check it out!

As we all know, CFLs are difficult to recycle, even though they have their good qualities. According to Instructables user “unknownpocketnerd,” we now know how to cannibalize a CFL for parts to make a Joule Thief and a small step down DC converter from CFL guts! Thanks, unknownpocketnerd!

Instructables user kc6qhp has posted AND WON FIRST PLACE FOR the instructable regarding his Kilo-Lumen bicycle headlamp. This thing is ridiculously bright! Check out the instructable! This thing is about 1200 lumens, and runs on an 18V Ryobi battery. Not for the timid!